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The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Director: Orson Welles

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From Time Out Film Guide

Don't attempt to follow the plot - studio boss Harry Cohn offered a reward to anyone who could explain it to him, and many critics have foundered on it - because Welles simply doesn't care enough to make the narrative seamless. Indeed, the principal pleasure of The Lady from Shanghai is its tongue-in-cheek approach to story-telling. Welles is an Irish sailor who accompanies a beautiful woman (Hayworth, then Mrs Welles) and her husband on a sea cruise, and becomes a pawn in a game of murder. One intriguing reading of the movie is that it's a commentary on Welles' marriage to Hayworth - the impossibility of the 'boy genius' maintaining a relationship with a mature woman - and the scene in the hall of mirrors, where the temptress' face is endlessly reflected back at him, stands as a brilliant expressionist metaphor for sexual unease and its accompanying loss of identity. Complex, courageous, and utterly compelling.

Author: MA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Orson Welles

Producer: Orson Welles

Cast: Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders, Ted de Corsia, Erskine Sanford, Gus Schilling full cast

Genre(s): Thrillers

Duration: 87 mins

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